We have a legal and moral duty, however, to summon him to our courts to answer charges of war crimes under British law.

The law is very clear on this point: there is jurisdiction to try in British courts anyone who commits war crimes anywhere in the world, whatever their diplomatic status.

Will the rule of law prevail or will “political expediency” debase our legal system and undermine the independence of our judiciary? That is the critical question that our application for an arrest warrant for Mohammad bin Salman will answer.

The vast evidence collected by the Legal Centre for Rights and Development, based in Yemen, for over 1,000 days since the start of the unlawful military intervention proves beyond reasonable doubt that these crimes have been committed by the Saudi coalition. Further evidence of war crimes is being recorded daily.

Reports from various reputable international NGOs such Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and UN agencies all confirm the commission of war crimes by the Saudi coalition.

As a matter of law, any strike on any civilian area amounts to a war crime, even if it is later discovered that such places were used for military purposes.

There is frequent use of prohibited weapons — such as cluster, chemical and uranium-enriched bombs, which are continuing to claim civilian lives, including causing severe birth defects of the type that we saw following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Frequently, millions of people from all over Yemen come to the streets of Sanaa to show support for the government, but the Saudi coalition and their allies don’t want that.

They want the people of Yemen to accept the puppet cabal of Saudi Arabia, led by Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi — who is currently based in Riyadh hotels. It has neither legitimacy under international law nor under the Yemen constitution, and is receiving substantial payments for services from the Saudis.

If, as the Saudis and their allies claim, their total destruction of Yemen and killing of thousands of civilians is “to restore” Hadi to power, then why has he not returned to the south of the country, which the coalition claims has been “freed” since late 2015?

As a result of the near total destruction of the country’s infrastructure by bombing, there has been a rapid and shocking spread of cholera and over a million people have been infected with the disease.

This has never happened anywhere else in the world. It is absolutely despicable and a very dangerous situation for the world.

This could happen to any other country. We must reject this type of violation of the sovereignty of any nation. It is in our collective interest to do so.

There is a very strict blockade on Yemen, arbitrarily enforced by the Saudi coalition by sea, air and land. The country depends on imports for 80 per cent of its consumables. Thus, vital food and medicine cannot arrive in the country.

Up to 17 million people face famine. Up to 130 children under the age of five die per day due to malnutrition, according to Unicef figures. This doesn’t include those of all ages who die from daily bombardment and those who die of malnutrition over the age of five.

Sanaa airport has been closed for over two years. Victims of air strikes and the blockade who require urgent medical attention cannot travel abroad and die as a result.

Kidney disease and cancer sufferers are worst affected and are dying at alarming rates due to a lack of medicine and medical centres to care for them.

The blockade is illegal and amounts to a use of hunger as a weapon of war, a practice used by the nazis in World War II. That is the kind of action supported by all those who back the Saudi coalition.

The blockade is collective punishment, and is leading to genocide — all this a grotesque violation of international law.

So to receive Mohammad bin Salman, a notorious dictator, on a state visit to Britain is gross insult to all the values the British government claims to hold dear.

We say he must be summoned to answer war crimes charges, not dignified with stately decorum.

was preparing to flee to Saudi Arabia yesterday after separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) seized the area around the presidential palace in the southern city of Aden in fierce battles.

South Yemen used to be an independent country with a leftist government. After the right-wing North Yemen government invaded, that independence ceased. Many southern Yemenis don’t like the Saudi occupiers and their puppets and would like to have an independent country again.

A Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE, armed and advised by Britain and the US, has been battling rebels in northern Yemen for nearly three years in a bid to prop up President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

But despite having a common enemy, the UAE and Mr Hadi have been locked in a long-running power struggle, which boiled over on Sunday as clashes erupted across Aden.

Fighters loyal to the so-called Southern Transitional Council fought all way to the gates of the palace in central Aden, forcing Mr Hadi’s troops to abandon their positions.

Security officials said Mr Hadi’s Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid bin Daghar and several cabinet members would leave Yemen imminently for Riyadh, where Mr Hadi has been for most of the war.

Saudi troops who have been guarding the palace for months stopped the separatists at the gate, preventing them from entering.

Mr Hadi has described the separatists’ action as a “coup”.

The violence has killed at least 36 people and wounded 185 since Sunday, according to the Red Cross.

UK lawyers call on UN rights council to suspend Saudi Arabia. Most of the prominent Saudis highlighted in lawyers’ call to action remain detained without charges. Some have simply disappeared: here.

A besieged and starved population has been pushed to the brink of famine. The UK, US and France need to re-evaluate their relationship with Saudi Arabia: here.

House of Saud’s power struggle could turn bloody. What we are witnessing today in Saudi Arabia among royalty is the beginning of the process by which the vertical succession may need bloodshed to be established as fait accompli: here.

Yemen’s Prime Minister [of the Saudi puppet government] Ahmed bin Dagher on Sunday accused southern separatists of attempting a coup in the interim capital of Aden after they took over the government headquarters. The premier called on the Saudi-led coalition fighting … Houthi rebels to intervene, hours after fierce clashes erupted between military units loyal to the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and separatist security forces: here.